[Federal Register: January 17, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 10)]
[Notices]
[Page 1995-1996]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17ja07-43]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-8270-1;Docket ID No. ORD-2005-0001]
Draft of Part 1 of the 2007 Release of the Causal Analysis/
Diagnosis Decision Information System (CADDIS)
Agency: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice of External Review Draft for Public Review and Comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a
30-day public review and comment period for the external review draft
of Part 1 of the 2007 release of the EPA Web site titled, ``Causal
Analysis/Diagnosis Decision Information System (CADDIS).'' The CADDIS
Web site was developed and prepared by EPA's National Center for
Environmental Assessment (NCEA) in the Office of Research and
Development (ORD). NCEA will consider public comments received in
accordance with this notice when revising the CADDIS Web site. Review
of Part 2 of CADDIS 2007 will be announced in the Spring of 2007.
EPA is releasing the draft CADDIS 2007 Web site solely for the
purpose of pre-dissemination peer review under applicable information
quality guidelines. The draft CADDIS 2007 Web site has not been
formally disseminated by EPA. It does not represent and should not be
construed to represent any Agency policy or determination. EPA will
consider any public comments submitted in accordance with this notice
when revising the document.
DATES: The 30-day public comment period begins January 17, 2007, and
ends February 16, 2007. Technical comments should be in writing and
must be submitted electronically or postmarked by February 16, 2007.
ADDRESSES: The draft CADDIS 2007 Web site can be accessed via the
Internet at http://caddis.tetratech-ffx.com. Enter the username
``public'' and the password ``public.'' Additional instructions for
submitting comments are provided at the top of the home page of the
CADDIS Web site. Comments may be submitted electronically to the EPA's
e-docket, by mail, by facsimile, or by hand delivery/courier. Please
follow the detailed instructions as provided in the section of this
notice entitled SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the public comment
period, contact the Office of Environmental Information Docket;
telephone: 202-566-1752; facsimile: 202-566-1753; or e-mail:
ORD.Docket@epa.gov. For technical information, contact Vic Serveiss,
NCEA, via phone 202-564-3251, facsimile: 202-564-2018, or e-mail:
serveiss.victor@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Information About the Project/Document
Over a thousand water bodies in the United States are listed by
states as biologically impaired. For many of these sites, the cause of
impairment is reported as ``unknown.'' To formulate appropriate
management actions for impaired water bodies, it is important to
identify the causes of biological impairment (e.g., excess fine
sediments, nutrients, or toxic substances). Effective causal analyses
call for knowledge of the mechanisms, symptoms, and stressor-response
relationships for various stressors, as well as the ability to use that
knowledge to draw appropriate, defensible conclusions. To aid in these
causal analyses, NCEA developed CADDIS. CADDIS is a Web-based decision
support system that will help regional, state, and tribal scientists
find, access, organize, and share information useful for causal
evaluations of impairment in aquatic systems. It is based on EPA's
Stressor Identification process, which is an EPA-recommended method for
identifying causes of impairments in aquatic environments. EPA released
the first version of CADDIS earlier in 2006, after addressing comments
from the public and independently selected peer reviewers. Current
features of CADDIS include a step-by-step guide to conducting causal
analysis, downloadable worksheets and examples, a library of conceptual
models, and links to useful information sources. Additional information
is being added to the CADDIS Web site in preparation for release of a
major revision in September 2007. The review announced here is the
first of two sets of modules added to the CADDIS Web site.
Specifically, comment is invited on information on six candidate
causes: metals, sediments, nutrients, dissolved oxygen, thermal
alteration, and ionic strength. Since its release, CADDIS has become a
valuable resource for EPA, state, tribal, and local risk assessors.
CADDIS 2007 will add more capabilities to this already important
diagnostic tool.
II. How To Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at
http://www.regulations.gov
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2005-
0001 by one of the following methods:
http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
E-mail: ORD.Docket@epa.gov
Fax: 202-566-1753
Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket
(Mail Code: 2822T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. The phone number is 202-
566-1752.
Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is located in the EPA
Headquarters Docket Center, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 1301
Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public
Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Public
Reading Room is 202-566-1744. Such deliveries are only accepted during
the docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should
be made for deliveries of boxed information.
If you provide comments by mail or hand delivery, please submit
three copies of the comments. For attachments, provide an index, number
pages consecutively with the comments, and submit an unbound original
and three copies.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-
2005-0001. Please ensure that your comments are submitted within the
specified comment period. Comments received after the closing date will
be marked ``late,'' and may only be considered if time permits. It is
EPA's policy to include all comments it receives in the public docket
without change and to make the comments available online at
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided,
unless a comment includes information claimed to be Confidential
Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to
be CBI or otherwise protected through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail.
The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access'' system,
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which means EPA will not know your identity or contact information
unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an e-
mail comment directly to EPA without going through http://www.regulations.gov,
your e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part
of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available
on the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends
that you include your name and other contact information in the body of
your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read
your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic
files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of
encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses. For additional
information about EPA's public docket visit the EPA Docket Center
homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
Docket: Documents in the docket are listed in the
http://www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other materials,
such as copyrighted material, are publicly available only in hard copy.
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically
in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI Docket in the EPA
Headquarters Docket Center.
Dated: January 11, 2007.
Peter W. Preuss,
Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. E7-518 Filed 1-16-07; 8:45 am]
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